The Day Before launched on Dec. 7 after a very bumpy development—and its troubles are far from over.
As soon as it launched in Early Access, the game’s Steam page indicated that reviews were “Overwhelmingly Negative.” Less than a day after launch, players filed in over 9,000 reviews. Throughout social media, player’s reactions match that general review quality. They are mainly angry and disappointed. The rare comments that defend the game are met with waves of exasperated responses.
The game’s official subreddit is full of threads that complain about the poor quality of The Day Before. “Our expectations for you were low, but holy f*ck,” reads one thread. Several other threads are blaming the developer for misleading players by labelling The Day Before as a zombie survival game, whereas the gameplay is more reminiscent of an extraction game. “Never Forget These Sc*mbags LIED TO ALL OF US,” one of the top threads read.
The game released as an Early Access title on Dec. 7, despite being initially introduced as an official launch. It took the developer five years to make it, and it got through several controversies in the process. The lack of transparency about the progress of the game’s creation and multiple delays led players to think that it was a “scam” and wouldn’t release.
But seeing how it’s received, many wish the developer would have added yet another delay rather than shipping the game in this state. Meanwhile, a hotfix was swiftly added to fix a few issues, but the developer has yet to react to the game’s reception.
